For limited company contractors: enter your day rate and working pattern to estimate company turnover, then see corporation tax, salary, dividends and personal take-home after all taxes.
Updated for 2026/27. Uses UK corporation tax, dividend tax and PAYE assumptions. Estimates only — not tax advice.
Calculate company tax Read the guidesTax calculator for UK limited company contractors 2026/27. Corporation tax, director salary, employer NI, dividends and personal take-home. Enter your day rate or profit.
Updated for 2026/27. Written and reviewed by James Whitfield against current GOV.UK and HMRC guidance · Editorial standards · Methodology. Estimates for planning only — not tax, accounting or financial advice.
Figures reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year (last updated July 2026). Source: GOV.UK.
This calculator lays out the full tax picture for a contractor operating through a limited company, rather than just the final take-home number. Contract income becomes turnover; you deduct allowable expenses to reach taxable profit; the company pays corporation tax on that profit (19% to £50,000, 25% over £250,000, marginal relief between). Only then is profit distributed, so the calculation stacks four separate charges: corporation tax, dividend tax, and National Insurance on any salary.
On a director's salary the company pays employer NI at 15% above £5,000, and you pay employee NI at 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 then 2%. Because single-director companies generally cannot claim the £10,500 Employment Allowance, the employer NI on a £12,570 salary is a real (though corporation-tax-deductible) cost. Dividends, drawn from post-corporation-tax profit, carry no NI but are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35% after the £500 allowance.
Allowable expenses reduce profit before all of this: accountancy fees, business travel and subsistence, equipment and software, use-of-home, professional indemnity insurance, and employer pension contributions. Getting expenses right lowers the corporation tax layer directly. Figures here are estimates for planning, not tax advice.
Start from the day rate and work down. A contractor billing £500 a day for 44 weeks, with £10,000 of allowable expenses, arrives at £100,000 of profit — then the four tax layers apply:
This assumes the contract sits outside IR35, where the salary-plus-dividend route applies. If the engagement is inside IR35, the fee is taxed largely as employment income through PAYE with employee and employer NI, the dividend efficiency disappears, and much of this calculation no longer applies — so settle each contract's IR35 status first.
The rates and rules on this page are drawn from the official UK government sources below, using the confirmed 2026/27 figures. Each link opens the relevant HMRC, GOV.UK or Companies House page in a new tab.
A limited company must keep its finances separate from personal accounts. These accounts are free to open.
Companies House now charges £100 to register a limited company online (up from £50 in February 2026). Same-day digital registration is £156. You can register directly at gov.uk or through a formation agent.